Cabling for optical communication and electrical conduction have typically been provided by different systems composed of different materials. For example, fiber optic cables transmit light, but cannot conduct electricity without conductive coatings. Electrical wire composed of materials, such as copper or aluminum, conduct electricity, but cannot transmit information at Gigabit and Terabit speeds like fiber-optic cable due to capacitive effects that limit high bit rates. Based on these constraints, most avionic systems and/or other network and communication systems presently use hybrid systems that contain both physical implementations, increasing airframe, other platform, and/or ground systems' size, weight, and power (SWAP) and complexity.
What is needed is an optical and electrical coupling that overcomes the above-noted deficiencies.